Post by @belochka@lemmy.world

2026-10-16 04:43 UTC

A bit unrelated question (agree about sizes) - I live in Russia, it seems that all candy brands from USA use unbelievably strong sweeteners, and it seems to get worse, in my childhood a Snickers was apparently normally sweet, less felt than a cup of tea with 3 pieces of white sugar in it (which is a lot), now they are usually so sweet that I just can’t bear it, my receptors get overloaded and I feel sharp pain in my teeth, as if running outside during frost with heavy cold. So - is it just receptors working differently with age or have those things really been becoming too sweet? Talking about American candy in general, seems to be true for all of them, and yes, local brands I sometimes eat are normal. (They do say in the interwebs that American food is too salty, too spicy but not for Indians/Mexicans, too sweet even for SEA people and so on, all at the same time often, but I’m interested in memories of how it was 20 years ago.)

Replies (1)

@SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2026-10-16 04:59

I remember looking at a 20 fluid ounce coke or mt dew in like 2007 and noting that it had around 30grams of sugar per serving (I’m running from memory from about 20 years ago) which I want to say was 2 or 2.5 per bottle (usa food labeling rules are stupid and way too lobbied by the massive food corporations themselves). But now, it’s closer to 40grams per serving in those sodas Also, candies have definitely gotten sweeter and shittier. The ingredients keep getting cheaper and often worse. Hershey’s and Reese’s cups taste like dogshit now and are basically inedible. There are small social movements over these issues. But also, as you get older, your tastes do change. Adults typically like more bitter flavors because taste buds (I think), like your eyes, get worse at doing their jobs. I think we can taste less of certain things, and more of others or something. Remember when you were a kid, and adults listened to music that was WAYYYYY too loud, and drank and ate awful tasting stuff? They’d smoke and drink and it was just all gross? Well, now we’re adults and our tastes have literally changed too. So you’re basically right on, with all of your observations at the same time.

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